Poll: N.J. public supports majority of post-Sandy rebuilding plans, but with limits

A statewide poll released Monday shows that while a majority of New Jersey residents back taxpayer support of most rebuilding efforts, they also back significant limits on how reconstruction occurs, particularly when it involves private shore homeowners. Above, a scene of post-Hurricane Sandy destruction in Sea Bright.Mark J. Bonamo/NJ.com

A statewide poll released Monday shows that while a majority of New Jersey residents back taxpayer support of most rebuilding efforts, they also back significant limits on how reconstruction occurs, particularly when it involves private shore homeowners.

The latest Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press poll demonstrates that almost half of Garden State residents (47 percent) say it is very important to restore damaged areas of the Jersey Shore in time for this summer’s tourist season. Among shore county residents, including Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May counties, 62 percent say this effort is very important.

New Jersey residents, however, do not feel that restoration should be rushed if the effort drives up costs. Only 25 percent believe that shore municipalities should accelerate the rebuilding process by the start of the summer of 2013 if doing so would jack up reconstruction expenses. Sixty-seven percent of New Jerseyans believe that the shore should rebuild gradually if cost is a major factor. Thirty-one percent of the residents of the four shore counties support rebuilding by the end of summer, regardless of the cost, while 60 percent support a more measured, gradual rebuilding approach in order to minimize costs.

A clear majority of New Jersey residents support the use of state tax dollars to help storm recovery, but not when it comes to subsidizing private homeowners at the Jersey Shore.

More than two-thirds of New Jerseyans support state funds being expended for actions such as rebuilding boardwalks and beach amenities, replenishing beach sand, rebuilding shore businesses and restoring existing wetlands and bays to serve as storm buffers.

There is considerably less support, however, for using state tax dollars to rebuild private shore homes, with 40 percent approval to 51 percent disapproval according to the poll. New Jersey residents also did not support helping high-risk area homeowners with little damage upgrade their properties by a 39 percent approval to 56 percent disapproval margin.

The poll also indicated that Garden State residents believe that the recovery should not occur without substantial constraints.

Eighty-seven percent of New Jerseyans support imposing stricter storm-resistant building codes in affected areas. Seventy-two percent of state residents back the creation of a coastal commission to coordinate shore planning and rebuilding. More than two-thirds of state residents also support giving towns the right to impose a short-term building moratorium in high risk areas, permitting beachfront homeowners to rebuild only if they allow dunes or sea walls in front of their properties and allowing state regulators to decide which coastal areas can or cannot be rebuilt according to storm risk assessments.

The poll was conducted by telephone with 816 New Jersey adults from November 29 to December 2, with a margin of error of just over three percent.

“The Jersey Shore is considered to be one of the state’s primary assets, so it is no surprise that we find a general public willingness to support rebuilding efforts. The question is whether support will shift once the costs become more apparent,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Polling Institute at Monmouth University in West Long Branch. “It is interesting that there is less public support for subsidizing the rebuilding of private shore homes than there is for businesses and other beach amenities. Perhaps most New Jerseyans feel that shore homeowners accepted the risks or that these are mainly vacation properties rather than primary dwellings. We will definitely be exploring this in future polling.”